740.35112A/7–1145: Telegram
The Ambassador in Argentina (Braden) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:54 p.m.]
1503. Although, as explained in mytel 1477, July 9, 7 p.m.,32 representations presently re Axis firms replacement program in Argentina would not seem timely, Argentina has subscribed to other obligations and declarations of principle which have been and are being largely or wholly ignored. Joint pressure on following points for example is justified and might be productive: Rio Resolution XVII and attachment and Chapultepec Resolution VII dealing with subversive activities specifically recommended that surveillance be maintained and expanded. Argentina has not done so as evidenced by:
- 1.
- Directors and officers of Axis firms and associations have not been subjected to any control whatsoever except in some cases registration.
- 2.
- Graf Spee sailors, although supposedly prisoners of war, are given same liberties previously afforded them as internees while nearly 50 with Argentine wives have been exempted entirely from internment and are expected only to check in at stated intervals.
- 3.
- Some 70 German merchant sailors and 3 captains are not even interned.
- 4.
- As Dept. will recall from my 1470, July 7, 5 p.m.,33 only on July 6 Foreign Minister agreed pursuant my representations to initiate enemy alien internment program.
- 5.
- Argentine police have begun in very limited degree to exchange information relative suspicious persons and subversive activities but satisfactory performance thus far remains only a hope for future.
- 6.
- Re control over dissemination of enemy propaganda, 2 of the 3 Jap newspapers have been permitted to reopen in Spanish.
- 7.
- Japanese and German “social organizations” and schools still function as continuing centers of anti-democratic propaganda and nuclei of possible future totalitarian movements.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .